Crying Over Spilled Paint
by Astriel Storm
Summary: A little home re-painting project turned deep conversation between Iggy and Max. Not a ship! (And I really suck at summaries)


**Another one-shot after ages, folks. It started with an idea and I simply couldn't shake it and after I started, the story just sort of wrote itself. Sorry it's so dialogue heavy. And pardon any mistakes, I wrote this in one sitting so some parts might be a little weird. Enjoy! **

* * *

"Oh Iggy, watch out-"

Before Max could finish her sentence, Iggy had already kicked over the can of paint that was standing on a stool in the doorway. It landed with a crash and Max stared at the spreading pool of paint on the floor.

"Uh, oops." said Iggy, staring down at the direction that the paint can had landed.

"Oops is right, Iggy. How am I supposed to clean that up now?" Max replied.

"Oh wow, we should do something, it's really starting to spread." said Angel, who came over the investigate the source of the crash.

"Really sorry, guys" Iggy muttered. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"It's fine, Iggy, don't want to make this worse than it already is. And step back, the paint is about to reach your shoes." Max replied, blowing her bangs out of her eyes, something she does when she is starting to get annoyed.

Iggy did so and headed back downstairs.

* * *

"Max." Angel returned with a pail of water in one hand, and a couple of rags and a bottle of turpentine in the other.

"C'mon let's clean this up before it dries" Max said, taking one of the rags from Angel as she set the pail down on the floor.

"Max."

"We clean up all the excess paint, then we use the turpentine to get the stains off the floor" Max continued, as she started to mop the paint up with the rag.

"_Max._"

"What? Come on and help me here." she snapped.

"Gosh, Max, I love you but sometimes, you can be _sooo_ insensitive." Angel said, crossing her arms on her chest.

"What? What did I do?" Max said incredulously, dropping the rag back into the pail.

"See, case in point."

"Get to the point, Angel." Max said, warning in her voice.

"He didn't mean to knock it over Max, couldn't you be a little less harsh?"

"What? I told him not to come in here! It's full of tripping hazards right now."

"That's not my point, Max. I must say you come across as really mean sometimes."

"You're kidding me. First you accuse me of being insensitive and now you're saying that I am mean."

Angel just raised her eyebrows in response.

"Okay, fine. I admit I was a little harsh, but we still have so much to do and now this!" She said, gesturing to the mess on the floor.

"He feels bad enough that we have to do all the work, and now he feels even worse. Besides, he came up here to ask if we needed anything to eat, Max."

"Oh, okay now I feel really bad." Max said, biting her lower lip.

"Go then, he's on the roof. I'll clean this up." Angel said, picking the rag out of the pail and wringing it. "Oh, and Max. Be nice."

Max sighed and, maneuvering around the pool of paint, left room to search for Iggy.

* * *

Iggy sat on the roof of the house, thinking about what just happened. The rest of the flock had decided to repaint all of their rooms and had spent the morning at the paint store, bending over paint chips and picking their favourite colours. Not so fun for Iggy. The store smelled strongly of paint and turpentine and it overwhelmed his sense of smell, making him slightly light-headed. He had stuck close to Gazzy, bored, as the flock fussed over what colours they should pick. It was then that Nudge came over to him and asked if he wanted his room to be painted cream. Not that it mattered much to him, and he had shrugged and let her decide for him.

A _chink _of roof tiles to his right shocked him out if his thoughts and he jumped slightly. He was so engrossed in his thoughts hadn't heard anyone coming.

"Sorry, did I startle you? You usually hear people approaching."

"Max. Guess I'm not myself today." Iggy replied, turing his head in her direction.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said back there. I didn't mean it, you know right." Max said, seating herself down beside Iggy.

"Yeah, I know. It's just, all the paint colours thing this morning... It remind me..." Iggy broke off, turning his face away from Max.

"Yeah, Iggy?" Max probed, putting a hand on his knee.

When he didn't reply, Max leaned over and was shocked to see tears in Iggy's eyes.

"Iggy! What... I'm really sorry! Oh Angel was right, I am such an insensitive pig." Max said, raking her hands through her hair.

"No, it's not you Max, it's just, all the paint colours this morning, it just hit me that..."

"Yes?" Max said gently. She had never seen Iggy this vulnerable before, and it broke her heart to see him like that.

"It hit me that I don't remember what any of the colours look like anymore, Max. It hit me really hard." Iggy said, scrubbing the tears away from his eyes.

"Oh, Iggs..." Max wanted to wrap her arms around him and stroke his hair, like she did when they were young and back at the School, just after the fateful experiment that robbed him of his sight.

"It's just, I know the grass is green, the sky is blue and all that. But I can't for the life of me remember what the colours look like."

"But you have that new skill of yours right? You know what colour things are."

"It's not the same. That's just it, I _know _the colour, it doesn't mean I actually see what the colour is. It's like knowing hot from cold. You understand?"

"Oh Iggy." Max was at a loss for words, Iggy wasn't one to open up so much about his feelings to her and she didn't know how to react to what she was hearing.

"You must think I'm stupid," Iggy laughed without mirth, "Fancy crying over something like that."

That sparked something in Max. "No, Iggy. I don't think you're stupid at all. I could never imagine myself in your shoes and won't insult you by saying I know how you feel. I don't think I would ever be able to handle myself the way you do if it happened to me. Come on, you're one of our best fighters, and you can assemble something to explode in 5 minutes flat with just items you find in the house and not to mention, I've yet to taste anyone's food that is better than yours. Plus you are one of the toughest people I know. So, yeah, not stupid at all." Max finished lamely.

"Thanks, Max." Iggy smiled.

"I'm glad we had this talk, Iggy."

"Hey, Max, can you do me a favour?" Iggy said, after a moment of them sitting in silence.

"Anything for you, Iggs."

"Can you describe the colour of the sky to me?"

"What?" That caught her way off-guard. "Umm... Well, of course it's blue, not blue like the ocean, it's not actually blue you know that right. The ocean is actually more like grey and a little white if you consider the sea-foam but I guess there are super crystal clear oceans that can be considered blue but _really _water is really just colourless and see through. The sky, well, that blue is... gosh I'm not answering your question am I? And why do I sound like Nudge right now. Sorry, I can't do it. I can't describe colours."

"You paint with words, Max." Iggy sniggered, unable to contain his grin.

"Hey! I tried my best!" Max protested, but a smile was already forming on her face. "You got me good there, Mr. Pyro." Max laughed, punching him lightly on the arm.

"Alright! I have dinner preparations to get back to, and did you really just leave Angel to clean all the paint up?" Iggy said, rising to his feet.

Max just laughed and followed suit, as she brushed off her jeans and looked up into Iggy's unseeing eyes, she thought to herself, the colour of the sky behind him at that moment, matched the colour of his eyes perfectly.

* * *

**Gosh, I really like writing Max up as a meanie don't I? Thanks for reading people! Will 'preciate it if you left a review to let me know what you think! Cheers!**


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